


The Boy With The Broken Halo

by wonderfulmax90



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 15:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11466261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulmax90/pseuds/wonderfulmax90
Summary: What happens when the devil loses his angel?Crow is a man who has recently lost his best friend before they were both scheduled to go on a cross country road trip. He decides to take the ashes of his friend, with his parent's permission, to LA where he'll dump half into the ocean. Along the way, Crow picks up another man just like himself.Izzy is a man who was forced into prostitution by his abusive step father. Izzy dreams of becoming an actor in Los Angeles. He spends the night on the highway when he is found by Crow. They become fast friends and Crow takes him away from his bitter life.Both need to overcome issues and rules set by society when they realize that not all love is equal in the great United States and bigotry runs rampant. They must break societal rules and become the best people they can be.Love, life and happiness is found once these souls find each other as they figure out what true love is.





	The Boy With The Broken Halo

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is only a beta version and will be edited as necessary.

No matter what anybody says, in the end, it is you who will decide. I want you to live. But even if I want that, you might not. I hope that what ever decision you make, it won't be a decision you'll ever want to change. I just want to say that you are amazing, special and wonderful. You have so much greatness in store for you. I've lived through so much darkness and have tried to take my life more than once but now things have finally turned around for me and they will for you too. Please recognize how young and beautiful you are. Understand that happiness will come to you because you deserve it. You are important and have so much going potential. The world has many things to offer just get through this and you'll see. Your life is worth something you are loved, important and unique. Your life could never be replaced by someone or something else. You are worth everything and you are important.  
Love is not a static feeling given to those who are romantically involved. You must fall in love with someone who wants you, who waits for you. Who understands you even in the madness; someone who helps you, and guides you, someone who is your support, your support. Fall in love with someone talks with you after a fight. Fall in love with someone who misses you and wants to be with you. Do not fall in love with a body or with a face; or with the idea of being in love. It takes people a long time to figure this out. Trust me, it took me a while to realize how much love means to me. How much the love of someone else affected me.  
I always ignored platonic and familial love in my life. I called them unimportant and stupid. They weren’t important to me, as bad as it sounds. I placed all of my cards on the table for romantic love. I dismissed those who tried to give me that kind of love. I denied myself the love I wanted. I pined over trying to have a partner. This ended up in me getting hurt a lot of times. I tried so hard to become someone I wasn’t in search for love. This ended in me being abused more than once.  
Being different also didn’t help my situation at school or in dating. I wasn’t very popular around my high school. I was a loner besides my only friend. I didn’t even talk to my own parents that often. My dad worked night shift as a doctor and so did my mom. They were both emergency room doctors at the local hospital. So I came home most of the times and they were leaving. They also slept most of the day. But at least they were occasionally off sometimes. Other times they worked for a few weeks straight. I wasn’t happy with this work but they made good money. They gave me a comfortable life. I was pleased of their work for me since they were immigrants. But I was ashamed at how many events they missed because they were at work all the time.  
I was smart enough and I had good grades. I worked hard and read a lot. I was able to pass my classes with ease. I was in every AP class my school offered. I was on the track for early graduation with Liam, my friend. But we were waiting it out. We both wanted to experience senior year. We even went to prom together. That was only as friends though and not as dates. We were never asked out on an actual date. So we just asked each other in the most dramatic way. Our friendship was built off of that kind of stuff.  
“Ow, that fucking hurt! What the fuck did you do that for, asshole?” I asked, the sting of the slap to my ass still burning from a few seconds ago. I pulled out both of my middle fingers and showed it to the asshole who slapped my ass.  
“Well now that the jock dumped the devil, there’s another pale piece of goth ass on the market. I’d love to fuck that pretty ass of yours. I’ve never had a tranny piece of ass before. Maybe you’ll be my first tranny fuck.” The gothic looking man walked passed me and smiled as he threw up the American Sign Language sign for bull. I stuck out my tongue and kept walking.  
“Wanna fuck the shit out of him and hurt his soul, then you’ll have to get through me!” I stopped walking as Liam stepped in between the man and I.  
“Oh, did the devil rebound with his angel or did the angel offer to hook up with his devil because he’s bored of fucking real women for once?” The goth asked with a smirk on his face as he looked at Liam.  
“No and the devil has a name, you dumbass. His name is Maxwell and he’s the best man I have ever met. He’s like a fucking golden retriever because he is so loyal.” Liam squared up to the goth and he smiled deviously at the man.  
“Looks like you want to fight with me, angel. I don’t want to ruin that pretty little face of yours. Why don’t you have the devil fight for you instead? She’s ugly enough already as she tries so hard to be masculine,” The goth looked over at me and smiled at me.  
Liam became a deep maroon color as he looked at the man. He bounced on the balls of his feet and looked around. He took a few deep breaths as he looked over at me. I nodded and he smiled deviously at me. He balled off both of his hands and nodded lightly. He smiled and looked over at the man. He lifted his balled fist to the man. Liam landed a punch and the man went down. He walked over and looked at the man from above. He looked like a giant over the man, who was practically knocked out on the ground.  
“Don’t you ever misgender him or any other transgender person ever again. It makes you look like a bad person and a bad goth in general. Just don’t be a douchebag to people, it’s ungothly, dude.” Liam spat at the man and walked over to me. I smiled and turned to keep walking with him. He smiled at me and grabbed my hand protectively.  
“I hate dating men and I hate goth men in general. They’re just annoying to me in general. I looked over at one and I just feel weird. I love men and masculine people but sometimes they they get in the way and they hurt me. That and they’re normally just childish with no sense of direction. Jeremy dumped me for no reason other than he doesn’t want to be a cliche gay guy. You know, he’s closeted and I’m out to almost everyone. I could get him in trouble with his parents because their hardcore Catholic people who believe gay people are wrong for being gay,” I looked down and watched my shadow beneath me on the school carpet.  
“You deserve better than that asshole. You deserve someone good and someone who actually treats you well. You’re too pretty to be let down by men every time you go to date them. There was Jacob who practically beat you to death and now you have to cover those scars with makeup. There was Carl who was just confused and didn’t really want men. There was Jason who was cheating on you the entire time. There was Aiden who hurt you before he went to California. Which, by the way, if I ever seen again I will fucking kill him. I will shoot him straight in the head. I just don’t know why you choose shitty men to date instead of some nice guys who respect you,” My friend and cohort, Liam sighed as he walked alongside me.  
“We accept the love we think we deserve, Liam. I believe I deserve this kind of love, so I accept it. You believe you deserve a certain kind of love and so you accept it. You date people like that and you keep dating those kinds of people. We all see that you don’t deserve this kind of love, but you don’t think that so we all shut up about it. Read an assigned English book for once, honey,” I snapped and looked over at him. Liam laughed and looked over at me as well. We kept walking and we brushed shoulders since we were so close.  
“You know I won’t read one of those now that we’re graduated. I hated assigned reading and so did you. I am free from the fact that we will have assigned reading,” Liam looped a lanky arm around my shoulders and we giggled.  
“Well you’ll have to if we, or more likely you, end up going to college. You need to know how to accept assigned reading for what it is, Liam,” I smiled happily and Liam knowingly smiled back at me.  
“We both know that I need to be a moral person before I go there. I’d eventually waste my time partying or fucking chicks,” Liam said as he made a humping motion. I smiled and laughed at my best friend of six years.  
“First off, there is no ‘or’ in that sentence. You would end up partying and fucking chicks. Second off, you don’t fuck anyone and you know it, Liam. You make sweet, sweet love to people,” I shook my hips and smiled at him.  
“You need to get out of your head, Crow. You basically live up there, dude. We both know that you’re confusing me with yourself.”  
“I am not confusing myself with you. You make sweet love to people. You have so much love to give people that even a random one night stand feels special.”  
“You have more love to give than me. You have so much love bottled up I don’t know how you survive.”  
“I survive by keeping it for the people I fall in love with. I give them all I have and then lock back up when that relationship is over.”  
“Yeah, but you end up getting hurt. You have always ended up getting hurt. I don’t care about you and all your love if you keep getting hurt.”  
My shoulders slumped in defeat. I looked down and kept walking until I reached a door. I pushed it open and looked up only to see a woman pass by me. She was completely gorgeous. She was objectively beautiful to most. That was only because she was the most popular girl in school. Every guy and most girls in school had a crush on her. Even I did at one point when I thought I was straight. She was a model and very impressive. Her name was Layla and she was the best person in the school. She was not only beautiful but she was intelligent as well.  
“Well look at the devil and the angel. I hope you two had a great day at school. We’ll miss you both. You’ve taught us all that even the most different people could be the best of friends.”  
Not everyone at this school hated us. It was kind of refreshing to not be hated for once. I felt appreciated when Layla came around. Layla didn’t really mind us but she didn’t like us either. Layla just kind of tolerated us and our presence. There was also one English teacher and a History teacher who liked us. Other than that the rest of the school hated us. Layla and those two teachers were the only ones in the entire five hundred person senior class to like us.  
“I don’t think anyone but you will miss us, Layla. You’re the only one who seemed to notice us.” Layla smiled and flipped her bright blonde hair over her shoulder.  
“I know, I just wanted to humor the two most famous seniors in school one last time before they leave forever. At least someone is going to miss you at this god awful school.”  
“Yeah, but what’s going to miss us when you leave. You’re a junior and next year you’re going to be a senior.”  
“I’ll tell the freshmen about you and make sure you become a legend. That’s going to be my senior gift to the school. The devil and the angel will be forever immortalized in the school’s history.”  
“You really don’t have to do that for us, Layla. We’re happy with just you knowing who the fuck we are and are nice to us.”  
“Aw, come one, let me do you this one solid. You both already are cool enough guys. You’ve helped me accept myself. Because of you both I realized I was a lesbian. Hey, maybe we can go to pride before you two leave!”  
“Sounds pretty fun, actually. Thank you for the idea and thank you, we appreciate being our gay selves for others to figure out who they are.” I smiled and touched her shoulder. She smiled awkwardly at me and I dropped my hand.  
“You guys are too nice to me. I’ll see you two there, I’ll text you about some plans, okay?” She smiled at me and I smiled back.  
“Okay, we’ll see a text from you later. I hope we get to hear from you.” Liam smiled and giggled a bit at me.  
“You two are so fucking hilarious together. I can’t believe you two have AP Psych together.”  
“Well, if you had taken with me, you would’ve been in the same class with Layla and then the joke would be on you.”  
“Well, it’s not my fault I almost failed calculus and had to take it again.” I giggled as Liam looked over at me with happy eyes.  
“We both know you were making sweet, sweet love to Layla during your ‘calculus tutoring sessions’ this semester.”  
“Can you stop saying ‘sweet, sweet love; when you could just say ‘sex’ like a normal human being?”  
“There’s no way I’ll stop because it annoys you and the rest of the world. I love annoying people.”  
“We get that much, Crow. You were voted most likely to annoy people for yearbook. A very fitting title, I might add.”  
I shrugged and Layla walked away. I watched as she walked up to the quarterback, well former quarterback, and smiled at him. She kissed his cheek and he blushed. He wrapped an arm around his waist and smiled. He caught my eye and glared at me. I looked down and looked away. Liam wrapped an arm around me and pulled me away. I smiled a bit and giggled as I leaned into him. Liam kissed the top of my head and walked me out of the school.  
I took one look at him and knew why I should never had become his friend in the first place. He was a fucking model in human form. He was a male model, an angel fallen from earth. His hair was a golden blonde color that came down to his neck. His eyes were a spectacular color of brass. His body was tanned and toned. Liam was taller than most and almost reached seven feet. He was a regular Ares and was sculpted by the gods himself. It didn’t help that he was from deep within Australia. His accent was still thick and gorgeous. All of the women at school swooned when he walked by them. Even I was caught swooning at him a few times. He always wore muscle tees and jeans. Liam never showed off his body unless he was near me.  
I, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. I was always wearing leather jackets and matching pants. I normally didn’t wear a shirt which got me in trouble a lot at school. My skin was pale even though both my parents were Greek and I was supposed to come out actually looking like a Greek god. My jet black hair went down to my waist as well. I had dull hazel eyes and an acne covered face. I was short and not as muscular compared to Liam. I was only six feet tall and still had to jog to keep up from my friend. I looked like a demon who just crawled out of hell. Everyone called us ‘the angel and the devil’ since we contrasted so much. I think they only came up with the name since I dressed in dark clothes and Liam stuck to neon colors and pastels.  
“Did you just call another man ‘pretty’? How very gay of you, Liam,” I said effeminately and smiled at my friend. Liam blushed and lightly punched me in the arm.  
“I’m not gay, dude, we both know I’m bisexual...at least I think...,” Liam lowered his gaze to the sidewalk as we walked away from the crowded school to go to lunch.  
“You don’t have to figure things out just yet, dude. We both know that I don’t care what you identify as, as long as you’re safe and healthy,” I wrapped an arm around my friend’s waist as we walked. Liam smiled and looked down at me.  
Everyone thought we were together or completely compatible. They always said opposites attracted, but in our case we didn’t want to get together. Liam was always wondering about his sexuality. At first he was a stereotypical straight guy who loved sports. Then he was a stereotypical gay guy. Now he was confused and tired of soul searching. Liam only knew that he possibly liked men. I was comfortable in my sexuality and Liam definitely wasn’t. Which was perfectly fine by me. Though I did have a few feelings for him. Whether they were platonic or romantic was a different thing.  
“I want to so that I can definitely start going on dates and shit. I’m a hopeless fucking romantic,” Liam looked at me dejectedly and I took his hand, kissing the knuckles. Liam blushed and looked over at me. I smiled and walked to the diner where we spent every day after school.  
“Yeah, but you don’t have to start going on dates and shit right now. You just got out of high school, little one. You’ve got maybe another seventy years on you to find some sweet lovin’ to get you through.”  
“Yeah but I never had a high school sweetheart. I didn’t fall in love with the quarterback and get promise rings together. We didn’t fill out college applications together. We didn’t choose a school based on where they got a scholarship. We didn’t go and get an apartment off campus. We didn’t get to get a puppy from the shelter. We didn’t fill our apartment with flowers and candles. We didn’t get to play records on repeat while we cuddled. We didn’t graduate together and start a family. I just wanted something like, you know?”  
“Not everyone needs a high school sweetheart to be valid, Liam. I don’t know why you wanted one so bad. Love is supposed to be messy in high school. People are trying to figure themselves out. You’re still trying to figure yourself, Liam.”  
“Still, I wanted to experience something like the movies. I wanted to be like a normal person for once. Not this Greek god that everyone thinks I am.”  
“Dude, you’re a fucking teen model. Everyone is going to think you’re a Greek god or some shit like that. I’m Greek and I know you’re a Greek god. You act like my mom didn’t make me learn every single one in alphabetical order.”  
“Yeah, can you do that again to take my mind off a few things right now?” I nodded a bit and took a huge deep breath.  
“Achelois, who was one of the moon goddesses. Achelous, the patron god of the Achelous river. Aeolus, aka Aeolos, Aiolos, Aiolus and Eolus, god of air and the winds. Aether, aka Aither, Akmon and Ether, god of light and the atmosphere. Alastor who was the god of family feuds. Alcyone, one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Alectrona who was the early Greek goddess of the sun. Amphitrite, aka Salacia, the wife of Poseidon and a Nereid. Antheia, goddess of gardens, flowers, swamps, and marshes. Aphaea aka Aphaia, a Greek goddess who was worshipped exclusively at a single sanctuary on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. Aphrodite, aka Anadyomene, Turan and Venus, goddess of love and beauty. Apollo, aka Apollon, Apulu and Phoebus, god of the sun, music, healing, and herding. Ares, aka Enyalius, Mars and Aries god of chaotic war. Aristaeus, aka Aristaios, patron god of animal husbandry, beekeeping, and fruit trees. Artemis, aka Agrotora, Amarynthia, Cynthia, Kourotrophos, Locheia, Orthia, Phoebe, Potnia and Theron, goddess of the moon, hunting, and nursing. Asclepius, aka Aesculapius and Asklepios, god of health and medicine. Astraea, the Star Maiden, a goddess of justice, included in Virgo and Libra mythologies. Até, goddess of mischief. Athena, aka Asana, Athene, Minerva and Menerva, goddess of wisdom, poetry, art, and the strategic side of war. Atlas, the Primordial Titan, who carried the weight of the heavens on his back. Atropos, aka Aisa, Morta and one of The Fates. She cut the thread of life and chose the manner of a person's death. Attis, the minor god of rebirth. Bia, the goddess of force. Boreas, aka Aquilo and Aquilon, the North Wind and one of the Anemoi aka the wind gods. Brizo, the protector of Mariners. Caerus aka Kairos, Occasio and Tempus, the minor god of luck and opportunity. Calliope, one of the Muses and represents epic poetry. Calypso, aka Kalypso with a ‘K’, the sea nymph who held Odysseus prisoner for seven years. Castor, aka Castore and Kastor, one of the twins who represent Gemini. Celaeno, the name of a wife of Poseidon. Cerus, the wild bull tamed by Persephone, made into the Taurus constellation. Ceto, aka Keto with a ‘k’, a sea monster goddess who was also the mother of other sea monsters. Chaos, aka Khaos with a ‘k’, the nothingness that all else sprung from. Charon, aka Charun, the Ferryman of Hades. He had to be paid to help one cross the river Styx. Chronos, aka Chronus and Khronos, god of time. Circe, aka Kirke, a goddess who transformed her enemies into beasts. Clio, one of the Muses and she represented History. Clotho, aka Nona and one of the Fates. She spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Crios, the crab who protected the sea nymphs, made into the Cancer constellation. Cronus, aka Cronos, Kronos and Saturn, god of agriculture, father of the Titans. Cybele, aka Agdistis, Magna Mater, Meter and Meter Oreie, goddess of caverns, mountains, nature and wild animals. Demeter, aka Ceres, Demetra, Tvath, goddess of the harvest or spring, depending on who you ask. Dinlas, guardian of the ancient city of Lamark, where wounded heroes could heal after battle. Dionysus, aka Bacchus, Dionysos and Liber, god of wine and pleasure. Doris, a Sea Nymph and mother of the Nereids. Eileithyia, aka Eileithyiai, Eilithia, Eilythia, Eleuthia, Ilithia, Ilithyia and Lucina, goddess of childbirth. Eireisone, the deity who embodied the sacred ceremonial olive branch. Electra, aka Atlantis, tne of the seven Pleiades. Elpis, aka Spes, the spirit of Hope. Enyo, aka Bellona, a minor goddess of war, connected to Eris. Eos, aka Aurora, Eosphorus, Mater Matuta and Thesan, goddess of the Dawn. Erato, one of the Muses, again. She represents lyrics and love poetry. Erebus, aka Erebos, god of darkness. Eris, aka Discordia, goddess of strife. She is connected to Enyo. Eros, aka Amor, Cupid and Eleutherios. They are the god of love, procreation and sexual desire. Eurus, aka Euros or Vulturnus. He is the East Wind and one of the Anemoi, you know, the wind gods. Euterpe, another one of the Muses and she represents music, lyrics, poetry.”  
“How the hell are we only on the letter ‘E’?” Liam whined as he looked over at me. I shrugged and looked at him.  
“There’s a lot of them and do you want to hear the rest or not?” I asked looking at my friend. He shrugged and looked down a bit.  
“I’ll take that as a no and move on with what we were doing, which was us talking about you being a Greek god because you really are and I don’t know how you don’t see that shit because you are gorgeous.” I looked at my hands and kept walking with my friend as he looked at me.  
“‘There's more to the truth than just the facts’. Can’t I just be a normal human being for once, though? I don’t want to be this model dude who’s untouchable. I want to be someone you can approach. Am I not approachable to people?”  
“Dude you are so attractive that, yeah you are unapproachable. Like we’ve established, you are a Greek God. I don’t know why you won’t accept that to be true. I wish you would but you won’t.”  
“I don’t want to be that though and I just want to be a normal human being with a normal ass boyfriend or girlfriend or partner or whatever they want to be called, I don’t care as long as they’re mine.”  
“What are you even looking for in a person if you were to start dating and looking for some right fucking now.”  
“Well, for masculine people I kind of want short cropped black hair. I want him to have a lot of tattoos as well. A bit of muscle, but not too much. I don’t want a rock hard man that I can’t cuddle with. He needs to have a nice, smooth voice. But that one goes for basically anyone. I want him to be of average height. He needs to have a pretty average sized dick, even though size doesn’t really matter for me. He’s definitely got to be funny and smart. He’d be a bit of an ambivert. He’d like staying inside when need be and go out other times.”  
“That’s not a very extensive list, I like that. You’re being pretty open minded. What about for feminine people then?”  
“They’d be almost the exact same, to be quite honest. The same goes for nonbinary people as well. I’m not really that picky with people. You know, except for the hair bit. They could have any hairstyle they want, I just prefer that specific one.”  
“Seems like it, Liam. Either way, I would never be in the running for the title of your partner.”  
“You might be one day, Crow. But I don’t know if I’m gay or not. I really wish I knew who I was. I always admired you for that.”  
“Admired me for what, Liam? I don’t really do anything special to inspire anyone. I just be myself and hope that I don’t get murdered for it.” I asked as I looked at him. He smiled lightly and pulled me closer.  
“For having yourself all figured out by the time you get out of high school. I’m still second guessing myself and everyone else has an idea of who they are.”  
“I do not have my life together at all, Liam. I just put on an air of confidence for others. That’s the real key to life. Everyone is just bullshitting their way through life.”  
“Oh...okay...never thought about it like that. I never thought that people had no idea what they were doing.”  
“Yeah, I just bullshit and do nothing about it. If shit works, shit works and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I don’t really care about the outcome.”  
We walked in and a cool air brushed against our skin. The air caused goosebumps to rise on my chest. My nipples went hard and I was thankful for the fact that I hard finally worn a shirt to school. Granted, it was a ripped tank top that only covered a small portion of my torso. But I had on a binder which I didn’t count either. The cold air felt good, especially since we had been walking in the hot and sticky summer air. I took one look at the place Liam and I called home, a smile growing on our faces. Liam and I had been coming here every day since the first day of middle school. Now, we had graduated and this was our last day in the restaurant before we headed off to California to pursue our dreams. Liam wanted to make it big as a model and I wanted to be an alternative model or a director, but most likely a screenwriter.  
“Well look at you two handsome men. The devil and the angel have arrived for their last meal here,” An old woman with bright red hair said as we walked in. She wasn’t a waitress there, she was a regular just like Liam and I.  
“We are finally free of that wretched and depressing place. We are free adults ready to take on the world,” I spread out my arms and lifted my head to look at the ceiling as my body guided itself to our regular booth underneath a picture of Guns N’ Roses.  
“Where are you two off to again?” The lady swiveled in her chair to look at us as Liam and I sat down across from each other.  
“We’re off to Los Angeles to chase our dreams, miss,” I smiled at the lady and she sipped on her coffee. After all these years, we had never gotten each others names. I think that was the whole point.  
“Crow, who the fuck are you talking to? You do this almost every day, it makes you look mentally unstable,” Liam looked around almost suspiciously and I lowered my gaze a bit. He smiled when he realized that no one else was in there except for us.  
“No one, it was no one. I was talking to myself and no one else,” Liam nodded and I looked at him threw my eyelashes.  
“Anyways, did you pack up what you’re taking to LA? We need to load the UHaul tomorrow before we head out. I want you to actually help me this time instead of sitting on the sidelines like you did last time,” Liam smiled lightly at me and I nodded a bit.  
“I packed up and I did not sit on the sidelines last time. I was doing my makeup. You know how feminine my face looks. I need to defeminize my face if I’m going to attract a mate,” I flipped my hair and Liam smiled lightly at me.  
“Good because we need to leave fairly early. Say goodbye to your family tonight. We start loading the UHaul at five.” I groaned and let my head fall onto the table. Liam laughed as I looked up at him in pain.  
“Five in the morning? Why the hell are we leaving so early?” Liam giggled as a waitress brought our normal order of french fries.  
“So we can get to Erie, Pennsylvania by nine so that we can eat breakfast in a whole new state. We’ve never been out of Clinton, New York. Babe, don’t you want to see the world?” Liam picked up a fry and took a bite of it.  
“Okay, okay, but I have to do my makeup in the car. You know how long it takes me to do it,” I whined as I looked at Liam with sad, huge, puppy dog eyes. Even in natural makeup, it took an hour to do and that was on a good day.  
“Okay, I’ll make sure I go slow and avoid the bumpy streets,” Liam smiled his most gorgeous smile, his dimples showing as my face lit up happily. I clapped my hands happily and smiled back at him.  
“You know me so well, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I folded my hands together and swooned. I picked up a fry and munched on it happily.  
“Well then, we should finish these and go to sleep...or pack in my case. I am such a procrastinator,” Liam smiled and looked up at me. I giggled and helped Liam finish up the fries. We paid for the meal and left before the school rush came in.  
Both Liam and I had early release since we moved forward. We both were apart of the gifted group as children. I got my certifications in third grade and Liam joined in the fourth grade. We only met in the sixth grade when a few elementary schools combined into a few middle schools. I hated being as smart as I was and Liam did the same. We finished classwork to quickly and were always  
We walked the rest of the way home. The walk was just half a mile. It was Liam stopped at his house before I walked the half block to my house. We waved at each other from our driveways before heading into our houses. I yawned and set down my backpack. I couldn’t believe seniors were still required to come to school even after graduation. It was ridiculous and so aggravating. I hated that school and all it’s arbitrary rules.  
“Hello, Maxine, how was your day at school?” My mom walked out of the kitchen and looked at me happily.  
My mom had the same green eyes as me. Though, she was a few shades darker. She always had a smile on her face and she always worried about her smile lines. She was pushing forty, but she looked about twenty. People were always asking if she was my older sister. My mom didn’t mind it, but I did. To have people think that a woman as preppy as her was my sister was a vile thought. That and whoever asked that was a pervert who wanted to fuck a freshly legal woman.  
“I thought I asked you to call me Crow? I did change it recently, legally. So you have to call me that, legally.” My mom shrugged and came over to hug me. I pulled away and her smile dropped slightly.  
“Why have you been pulling away so much recently?” My mom went back into the kitchen and I followed her.  
“I’m heading to LA tomorrow morning. I have to say my goodbyes tonight. I don’t want you or dad getting all mushy on me.” I dropped my bag and looked at the ground.  
“That is no reason for you to be pulling away from affection. Is this because we freaked out when you told us that you weren’t our little girl anymore?”  
I had come out as transgender to my parents when I was a little bit younger than I was now. I was maybe four or five at the time. I was the perfect stereotypical transgender child. I fussed when I got into dresses and I always had boy friends. They freaked out and almost took me to conversion therapy. I yelled and screamed at them to not let me go. So, they didn’t and put me on puberty blockers. Eventually, I transitioned most of the way when I was a freshman in high school. Liam was by my side the entire time. All I had left was my top surgery.  
“No, I don’t care about that mom. I just don’t want crying and hugging. I just want to separate ties where I can. I need to become an adult in my own way,” I looked over at her and her shoulders perked up.  
“Can I bake you a cake or make you some breakfast to take on the road?” Mom looked over at me and I shook my head.  
“We’re getting breakfast in Pennsylvania, mom. I thought I told you that already. That’s why we’re leaving so early. We want to be on our own for once. We don’t want to rely on our parents any more than we have to right now. We want to become adults without our parent’s help,” I looked down and went to the stairs at the end of the kitchen.  
I had my room in the attic instead of the bedrooms on the lower floors. Those bedrooms were too small for my liking. I liked the solitude and I always had. My mom and dad thought it was weird, but I didn’t. I loved being alone after spending the idiots and people who didn’t understand me. Liam understood and normally gave me space when I needed it. He was the only one who knew that the strange and unusual was normal. He made me feel normal and that’s what I liked about him.  
My room was painted black with gold damask designs covering the walls. There was a very Victorian Goth feel to my room. I guess the room was normal besides that. My terrarium was the last thing that needed to be broken down, though I didn’t know how I was going to move it cross country. I just wanted to ask my mom to take care of my burmese python. He was a beautiful creature and my second best friend, Liam being my first. His name was Justin and he had been with me for only a year. That meant I had nineteen to twentyfour more years with me. I guessed I would have to take him with me, since the truck had enough space for me to set up his heat lamps.  
Boxes filled my room and I sighed. The brown filled the room and overpowered the black that was supposed to fill the room. I felt uncomfortable with the coor filling the room. I laid down on my mattress and looked up at the ceiling. There were a few pictures of old rock and punk bands were plastered on there and overlapping. I smiled and looked at concert tickets. All with dates before I was born. I allowed myself to look over at them. I would have to leave them all behind when I left to chase my dreams. Men like Slash and Axl inspired me. Even though I wasn’t chasing music, I was chasing my dreams just like they did.  
I had so many plans when I went to California and just Los Angeles in general. I had read all the books on different bands and wanted to be able to experience a lot of what these bands had experienced. I wanted to go to the Troubadour and the Rainbow. I wanted to walk some of the same streets they did when they were my age. I wanted to see LA through their eyes. I wanted to see what they had written about. I smiled and imagined the fact that I would be going there soon. Liam found the whole idea idiotic. I was proud for checking these places out. They meant a lot to me, not on a historical level, but a personal level. They were the people whose music helped me out of the biggest depression of my life.  
I walked over to my nearly empty bookshelf. Every important book to me would be going on the trip. A few books still remained on the shelves. They were mostly school books that had been never returned. The school officials didn’t care enough about library fees, though. I went to one of the nicest schools in the state. They only cared about you passing the classes you took. Those books sat on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf. That was only because I never wanted to look at those wretched school books again. I wanted to be free again and I finally was once I graduated.  
I picked up one of these books and went over to my mattress. I flopped down and leafed through my old AP government book. It was filled to the brim with highlights and notes. It was the only class I really liked. I had a knack for history and I don’t think I’d ever not love it. I was more interested in queer history more than normal American history. I never understood why people hated the word ‘queer’ anyways. It was used as a slur, yes, but it was a good descriptor for people. Queer is just purely, in its simplest form, an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or not cisgender. I had called myself queer for awhile until I settled on the term gay. Without queer, how else would questioning teens label themselves?  
Anyways, I only got into history in the tenth grade. I wasn’t a huge fan of the easy class until then. That was when a special teacher came into my life. This was the best teacher I have ever had in my entire life. He was the nice man who loved to teach. You could see that he really was passionate about history. He was able to make history fun to me. There were barely any lectures in his class. He was always giving out projects to us. Our teacher was always allowing us to watch movies in class. We watched everything from The Patriot with Mel Gibson to Thirteen Days to War Games. It was fun seeing the history instead of reading it out of a textbook. Textbooks really became dull after a few paragraphs. They might be even worse than lectures, in my humble opinion.  
I set down the book once I got tired enough. My mom had tried to call me down for dinner, but I told her I was too tired. She never noticed if I skipped dinner. She barely even noticed that I didn’t eat at all. She barely noticed that I had been extensively working out. She barely noticed that I had been throwing up and taken all of the laxatives in the house. I closed my eyes and sank into the bed. I considered getting up and wiping off my makeup. I didn’t really have the motivation or time to do so. So, I just fell asleep as my eyes got heavier and heavier.  
“Maxine, Maxine, please God wake up for me. There’s been a horrible accident on the side street near us. Please dear God, wake up Maxine. The police and ambulance are on their way, but the carnage looks really bad,” My mom shook my body and I rose awake. Her Greek accent was thick with worry. I looked over at the clock, it was only three in the morning.  
“What do you mean there was an accident near us? Accidents around here don’t happen all that much,” I said groggily as I got out of bed and threw on a jacket. My mom was shaking as she tightened her baby blue, fuzzy robe around her.  
“There’s been a crash into a tree on Westside road. Someone said the man was swerving a bit, like he was drunk, high or sleepy. He was driving one of those big U-Haul trucks. I guess he didn’t know how to drive?” My mom shrugged as the pieces finally came together in my brain.


End file.
